Treating textile material to remove gum, etc., therefrom



Jan. 6, 1942- 1 M. G. HINNEKENS 2,268,590

TREATING TEXTILE MATERIAL TO REMOVE GUM, ETC; THEREFROM I Filed Aug. 11, 1939 INVENTOR,

Muvice 'a-bfiamekem,

a 'ew uiim rz ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 6, 1942' TREATING 'rnx'rn'n MATERIAL TO REMOVE GUM, Era, THEREFBOM Maurice G. Hinnekens, Paterson, N. J. Application August 11, 1939, Serial No. 289,601

3 Claims.

In removing undesired matter from textile material, as the gum in silk, the material (as a fabric) is arranged in loops hung in a discharge liquid, which in the case of silk is both chemically treated and heated to effect the discharge,

and two attendants, one at each side of the vat, shift the sticks, which rest at their ends on the sides of the vat, one by one along so as to trail the loops through the liquid, at the same time turning the sticks somewhat so as to feed the fabric into the liquid and thus insure'that every part thereof undergoes the treatment. This operation is a slow and tedious one, requiring an undue expense for labor.

The object of this invention is to provide for performing the treatment with as great as if not greater efficienc'y than by hand and with appreciably less expense both of time and labor.

The material, say a fabric, should not directly be subjected to the discharge liquid since such is not only likely to cause undue shrinkage but shrinkage which in the case of a fabric is irregular. To avoid such shrinkage it is usual in the r 1 case of silk fabrics to raise the temperature of the discharge liquid gradually.

According to my invention, assuming that the fabric, as in loops, is to be wetted by, as'by being trailed through, the usual discharge liquid bath (by which I hereinafter mean a liquid both chemically treated and also heated to the degree necesary to effect discharge), the material in its approach to such wetting step is wetted by what I term a pre-treating liquid (by which I hereafter mean a liquid not having substantial ability to effect discharge, as untreated water at normal temperature and substantialy devoid of discharge chemicals), which wetting desirably acts to set up adhesion between the material'and a conveyor which-is advancing the latter to the first wetting thus to oppose shrinking of the material in this stage of its progress. In the preferred form, at a stage between that of the prewetting and the wetting by the discharge liquid the material is subjected to a wetting by liquid having a lower temperature than that of the discharge liquid and which may be drawn from the bath thereof with the result that, at least as to temperature,there is a stepping up, as it were,

from the action which the material undergoes by the pre-wetting to that which it undergoes in the discharge liquid.

'In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional and partly diagrammatic view of the apparatus of'this in vention, parts thereof being shown in elevation and others broken away;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional isometric view of the cascade device;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of said device,

- illustratingits action; and r Fig. 4 shows partly in fragmentary side elevation andpartly in section the cascade device and means to supply the same with liquid from the vat. 1 I

Let I be the vat in which are iournaled-four horizontal shafts 2, two at each end of the vat, one above the other. These shafts have respectively fast thereto in each of two vertical planes four sprocket-wheels 3, and around each such set of sprocket-wheels extends an endless chain 4, the two chains being connected at equally spaced intervals by sticks or staves 5; only one set of the sprocket-wheels and one chain appear in the drawing. In short, parts 2 to 5 form what in the appended claims I term a conveyor having successive spaced supports, as the sticks 5. Within the vat is suitable m'eans,'as one'or more steam-coils 6, for heating the discharge liquid therein, whose level is indicated at l, to wit, so

sides of slot 9 and have their upper margins 9b the top slot diverted and extending short of the top wall; is formed by bending downwardly the adjoining margins of its sections, as at Illa, in spaced parallelism with the diverted margins 91) of walls 9a, Openings to admit the liquid to the shell are indicated at 80..

The bottom of the vat has a foraminous outlet H which discharges to a connection I! in turn discharging to a rotary pump l3. The latter is shown merely diagrammatically and is assumed to be driven constantly by any suitable means not necessary to illustrate. Means to conduct liquid from the bottom of the vat and discharge it thereto above the level 1 includes, with connection l2, the pump and the cascade device, the following: A pipe l4 extends'from the pump to and discharges into the .bottom of a shell l5 having a removable cover It and a pipe I! discharges from the shell laterally thereof to the cascade device, to wit, at oneend of the latter. Another shell l8, closed at the top but having an open bottom surrounding the discharge end of the pipe I4, is removably held in the shelll by a thumb screw l9 screwed into cove'r l6 and engaging in a socket in the top of shell l8. Shell I8 is perforated, as at 20, and thus forms a filter element. Lint and other particles from the fabric being treated collect in the liquid of the vat, and as this liquid is withdrawn from the vat by the pump and delivered to the cascade device,-which in turn. returns it to the vat, such particles are checked at the filter or strainer l8, which from time to time may be removed from the shell ii to clear it of the deposit of particles collecting therein.

Spaced rolls 2| having their axes parallel with those of the shafts 2, are journaled in suitable supporting means here consisting of a frame 22 projecting from the end of the vat to which the cascade device and pumpare adjacent, and also projecting upwardly above the vat, such means affording the actual bearings for the rolls at 23. These rolls form with a pervious conveyor 24, as a fabric blanket, surrounding them what amounts to a. belt-and-puliey system. This system maybe constantly driven, by any suitable means, for which purpose in the present example let 25 be a rotary driver having a chain-andsprocket drive 26 connecting it with the adjacent roll: in the present example this driver is a pulley journaled in a bracket 21 surmounting the vat and is assumed to be itself constantly driven in any way. The rolls are so supported, being here of the same diameter, that the top stretch of the blanket is inclined downwardly toward the vat. Further, the arrangement of the rolls is such. that a vertical plane extending substantially centrally through the slots of the cascade device will be tangential to the outer surface of the blanket where it extends around the inner or lower roll.

28 is a pipe by which what I have indicated as the pre-treating liquid, here untreated cold water, is delivered onto the blanket. This pipe extends parallel with and above the blanket and has branches 2811 which extend therefrom horizontally over the blanket and are equipped with orifices so that the liquid discharge from each branch is in the form of jets 29 directed downhe wardly against the top stretch of and existing as a series whose length is co-extensive with the width of the blanket.

To provide for adjustment of the blanket in case it tends to skew the supporting means 22 carries a well-known adjusting means constructed as follows: A roller 30 extends across the lower stretch of the blanket, inwardly thereof, and is assumed to be journaled at its far end in such a way (not shown) that the roller may undergo angular displacement in a plane parallel with that of the axes. of the rolls I 9. At its near end it is journaled in a carrier 3| which forms a nut in threaded engagement with a rotary screw 32 joumaled in the supporting means 22, the screw having a handwheel 33 for rotating it. I make no claim to this known adjusting means, an example of which is shown, for instance, in the Ramsey Patent No. 2,126,812.

The fabric a to be treated is passed in fiat state from a suitably joumaled roll 34 on which it is wound, then over a guide roller 35 on the supporting means 22, then over the upper stretch of the blanket and then down through the slots of the cascade device.

At 36 is a receptacle under the system 21*24 in which the excess liquid delivered by the pipe 28 is collected. It discharges via pipe 31 to the sewer.

In the operation the stick-including endless system 2-4-5 and the system 2I--24 are constantly driven in the directions indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, the latter at the superior speed.

- Meanwhile the pump is constantly driven, preferably so as to maintain shell 8 full of discharge liquid drawn from the vat and thus cause two quite active or forceful cascades to be discharged between the wall portions 9b|0a of the cascade device and against both sides of the fabric, preferably immuring it, and the pre-treating liquid is sprayed by pipe 28 on the portion of the fabric,

H as it is drawn from roll 34, lying at any time on the upper stretch. of the blanket. The fabric delivered by the system 2l-24 depends therefrom extending through the slots of the cascade device. The thus-wetted fabric is by the force of the cascades caused definitely to dive straight down into the standing discharge bath in the vat between two of the sticks of the system 2-4-5 and when the after one of such two sticks attains in its travel the fabric the latter becomes supported thereby, whereupon the fabric dives again, and so on, with the result that the fabric is draped or hung in successive loops on the sticks, which advance the loops through the discharge liquid. The indicated sticks, as noted, are below the level I. so that all portions of the fabric become submerged in the discharge liquid. Any expedient for removing the fabric from the stick-including endless system may be resorted to.

According to my invention, the lengthy mathe pre-treating liquid before it attains the discharge liquid in the vat, such being in itself a factor more or less preventing the inordinate shrinking which is known to occur when the material is directly introduced into the discharge liquid. Further, while so traveling and because it remains wetted by the pro-treating liquid as it lies in contact with the blanket or conveyor 24, it is held by the resulting adhesion between it and such conveyor in extended statein short, such effort to shrink as it may manifest at this stage is opposed by the adhesion.

It is desirable to avoid subjecting the fabric to abrupt changes in temperature, as from that of the pre-treating liquid to that of the heated liquid in the vat. This is accomplished by withdrawing liquid from the vat and passing it via the pump and the other connections to the cascade device.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of treating lengthy textile material which consists'in advancing the same in flat state lengthwise of itself and meanwhile 0pposing transverse shrinkage thereof within a given zone of its path of travel and wetting the material within said zone with pre-treating liquid, and subsequently and while the material remains still wetted by such liquid wetting the same with a discharge liquid.

2. The method of treating lengthy textile material which consists in advancing the same in flat state lengthwise of itself and meanwhile opposing transverse shrinkage thereof within a given zone of its path. of travel and'wetting the material within said zone with pre-treating liquid, and subsequently and whi e the material 2,268,690 i -.3 flat state lengthwise' 1 itself and meanwhile remains still wetted by such liquid passing the material through and thus wetting the same with the liquid of a standing discharge bath, and meanwhile drawing discharge liquid from said bath and discharging t e withdrawn liquid 6 against the material at a stage between such wettings.

8. The method of treating lengthy textile material which consists in advancing the same in opposing transverse shrinkage thereof within a.

given zone of its path of travel and wetting the material within said zone with pre-treating liquid, and subsequently and while the material remains still wetted by such liquid passing the material down into and through a standing discharge liquidbath. v

MAURICE G. HINNEKENS. 

